


Broken Keys

by punahukka



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (2012), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Cussing, Drug Use, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Journalism, M/M, Musicians, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Reverse Big Bang Challenge, Sexual Tension, Smoking, Touring, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-28
Updated: 2012-08-28
Packaged: 2017-11-13 02:07:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/498267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punahukka/pseuds/punahukka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki and the Lowkeys are heading for the Broken Rainbow Tour in the wake of their first album; everyone has their own baggage to bring along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> Fic based on the artwork by the lovely lilibel. [ART MASTERPOST](http://lilibel.tumblr.com/post/30259586755/lilibel-my-art-prompt-for-avengers-rbb-the)

  
[www.theavengersband.org/news 27.8.2010]  
  
The Avengers is finished.  
Many of you saw this coming; we probably saw it too late.  
Due to differing opinions and people not getting along anymore we have decided to put the band to rest. We all agree there’s no one to blame for this. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is the right one, and the right thing is to let go.  
  
We want to thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts: it is because of you we have been able to do the thing we love. It’s been a bumpy ride, but we can honestly say we can proudly stand behind each and every one of our albums and concerts. Now it’s just time to move on.  
  
On behalf of the Avengers (Tony, Carol, Jan, Bruce),  
Steve Rogers  
  
***  
  
[www.jotunheim.info/main 2.3.2011]  
  
Greetings, ye faithful ones!  
  
Now that _Songs of Sigyn_ EP is out, so are we. Jotunheim is hereby taking a well-deserved hiatus in order to spend more time with our families, studies and other jobs. But worry not, we shall be back with a whole new force!

Keep your head high!

Thor

 

***

 

to: darcy.lewis@gmail.com  
from: lowkeysmod@lowkeys.com  
subject: Job offer

Dear Miss Lewis,  
  
I’ve been reading your writings on Rolling Stone for the last few months and I have to say I’m impressed. As you may know, Loki and the Lowkeys are heading for a Europe Tour on August. We would like You to join us as a reporter. Please respond if you’re interested and we’ll send you further details.

Sincerely yours,  
Loki Laufeyson

 

to: lowkeysmod@lowkeys.com  
from: darcy.lewis@gmail.com  
subject: Re: Job offer  
  
Dear Mister Laufeyson,  
If I don’t have to keep calling anyone ‘dear’ I’m so fucking in.

Love,  
Darcy Lewis

 

***

 

 

**LOKI AND THE LOWKEYS**

**THE BROKEN RAINBOW TOUR**

**AUGUST 2012**

 Oslo // Stockholm // Helsinki // Warsaw // Berlin // Budapest // Paris // Madrid // Lisbon // London

 Support: THE X-WIVES  
  
***  
  
“Okay, guys, say hi to the camera!”  
The camera is still wavering, aiming on the airplane’s window, when there’s a choir of muttered greetings, but finally it focuses on the first row of seats with Darcy’s voice continuing. “Would you please give short introductions of yourselves? Starting from the window-seat?”  
  
“Naturally,” the tall pale man in a hoodie two sizes too big for him snorts, but puts away the book he’s leafing and flashes the camera a wide smile. “Hello, I’m Loki Laufeyson, the founder of this band, and I’m more than excited to see what kind of a welcome we’ll receive in the Old World, especially now that we decided to start from Europe.”  
“I’m Clint Barton,” a shorter man with a leatherjacket matching the woman’s next to him grunts, “the FOH engineer and also taking care of the light show.”  
“Natasha Romanov, the monitor engineer,” the woman, her red curls making a notable effort at escaping from under her baseball cap, says and turns her attention back to a magazine.  
  
Camera moves slightly forwards to reveal the next row of seats and zooms in on a broad man with a shoulder-length blond hair. “Pleased to meet you, I’m Thor Odinson, the drummer,” he says with a bright smile and a nod.  
Next to him there’s somewhat as broad-shouldered and tall man as the previous one with short-cut hair and stubble. His smile is a bit more wary. “Hi, I’m Steve Rogers. I play guitar.”  
Compared to the two giants the third man in purple sunglasses with dark hair and a goatee looks tiny but he’s making himself much more at home than his companions, slouching in his seat and grinning: “Hi, I’m Tony Stark, and I am an alcoholic.”  
  
“Tony,” Steve says warningly but only makes the grin wider.  
“What? Don’t be a sourpuss, and besides, who’s paying for this trip?”  
“There’s only so many times you can play the ‘I paid for this trip’ card before I slap you,” Loki informs him from outside the picture, and the camera moves to the other side of the aisle.  
  
“Um, hello, I’m Bruce Banner, and I was kidnapped by this bunch of nutcases at the airport, I mean, I’ve been known to play the synth back in the day, but this…” the ruffled looking man with a couple of streaks of grey in his curly brown hair shakes his head, “this is madness.”  
“No, I believe this is Sparta,” Tony chirps helpfully. There are a couple of laughs and a sound of a rolled-up magazine hitting skin.  
  
“Hi,” smiles the redhead with a clipboard in her lap. “I’m Pepper Potts, the babysitter, although I believe the paycheck says ‘tour manager’ or something like that. I take care of the paperwork, spend hours on the phone and make sure these guys have a place to sleep and something to eat. I’m a lifer in Stark Industries.”  
“Our very own ‘get out of jail’ card, that woman,” Tony comments lovingly.  
  
On the window-seat there’s a man in a tailored black suit wearing sunglasses. “Nice to meet you, I’m Phil Coulson, and I used to be in charge of the band’s security, but somehow I ended up being the bus driver.”  
“We also have The Howling Commandos,” Pepper adds, “who are our roadies and techs. They’re in Oslo already and will be travelling in another bus with the instruments and other stuff.”  
“They have this little Canadian guy called Logan,” Tony says, “and I think his sideburns are all the security we need, he looks like a guy who will stab you if you look at him the wrong way.”  
“Don’t be an ass, Logan’s a darling,” Pepper says but doesn’t deny the attributes.  
  
***  
  
[excerpt from an interview]  
  
 _"My lyrics are always stories. The tricky thing is to decide how much of the story I want to tell.”_  
\- Loki Laufeyson


	2. Oslo

 

((Thor had just come out of the shower and was fixing himself a late night snack in the kitchen when he was surprised by the doorbell letting out its characteristic wail in the uncharacteristic hour. What surprised him even more was the sound of a key turning in the lock before he made it to the door.   
  
Luke and Leia had already padded to welcome the comer and were taking up most of the hallway, so Thor was staring trapped behind his dogs as Loki gracefully stepped in and pulled the door closed behind him.   
“You never told me to return the key,” rain-soaked Loki in his leather jacket stated as if it explained everything and crouched to the eye-level with the enthusiastically whimpering Great Danes. “Hello, monsters.”   
  
“You never told me _you were still alive_ ,” Thor managed to grunt back. Luke realised something was wrong, abandoned the task of licking their guest’s ears clean and hurriedly retreated to its master with his tail wiggling in anxiety; Leia was too busy in her attempt to drown Loki in love to notice anything.   
“Don’t tell me you’ve bought a coffin already?” Loki sneered, and Thor was faced with an almost irresistible urge to knock that indifferent act off with a good punch to his brother’s jaw. Almost.   
  
“We have been worried sick,” he said instead, hoping it would make even the tiniest crack into Loki’s imaginary Kevlar armor.   
“I’ve been informing Angie of my whereabouts from time to time, and I’m fairly sure she has informed mother. I’m a big boy, Thor, I can take care of myself.” Because that’s Loki’s excuse to everything. “And if it makes any difference, I’ve been in New York most of the time.”  
“Doing what?”  
At least Loki finally lifted his head to look at him, and from that look alone Thor knew he was being pulled into something big and not entirely sane: “I’ve got Tony Stark.”))  
  
***

***  
  
[excerpt from an interview ]  
  
 **How did you end up making music together?**  
Stark: “We were introduced to each other a few years back but never particularly kept in touch. Until The Avengers had been dead for a while and Loki had put Jotunheim on a break. Loki came to me with this _Interview with a Vampire_ kind of deal, you know, ‘Drink from me and live forever’.”  
  
***  
  
“You brought the wife,” Tony mutters from the corner of his mouth as Loki waves back to the woman walking towards them at the airport and smiles crookedly as she’s swept off her feet by Thor’s heartfelt hug. “I don’t remember you telling me you’d bring the wife.”  
“I don’t remember agreeing to share my every intention with you,” Loki sighs back. “I also don’t remember how the hell it’s supposed to affect your life.”  
  
Tony smiles when Steve comes to pick up two suitcases right next to them and keeps the face as the guitarist walks away: “I didn’t say it was a problem.”  
“It sure sounded like it.”  
“Was I sleeping or something, because I don’t remember them serving bowls of bitchy on the flight? Did you eat mine too?”   
“Ex-wife,” Loki says with such finality in his voice that Tony, for once, settles for shrugging and joining Pepper with her ever-present clipboard.   
  
***  
  
After three hours of landing to Oslo, baggage reclaiming, nerve-wrecking grouping and re-grouping, drive to the city centre, signing into a hotel and Pepper flashing her Stark Industries credit card here and there Darcy finally has a window seat in a cosy restaurant and a cold beautifully foaming beer in her glass. There are six of them, and beer’s on the menu for Steve and Coulson as well whereas Loki and Pepper decide to share a bottle of wine and Angie, who has been introduced to her at the airport, sips a red drink that apparently has something to do with cranberries.   
  
The waitress takes their orders for food, and Darcy steals a glance at the other end of the table as she takes a sip of her drink, waiting for the current conversation of the essence of tacos to die down.   
“So, I thought I’d done my homework, but what’s the deal with you guys?” she asks and nods towards Loki and Angie sitting next to each other, and she hopes her smile comes off as sweet instead of rude. “As officially or unofficially as you like.”  
  
Angie is a notably tall woman with huge hazel-green eyes and a few washed-out blue streaks in her long and thick fair hair. She’s wearing black and both her arms are covered in black, grey and blue tattoos from her shoulders to her wrists. She exchanges a look with Loki and grins warmly: “I think I’m some sort of a one person support group for a suffering artist. A personal trainer?”  
“She bakes the most amazing blueberry cookies if you’re feeling down,” Loki admits and places a casual arm on the back of her chair. “She’s also my trusted tattoo artist and a graphic designer every now and then, and she’s been in charge of our band’s merchandising business.”  
  
“Oh, and Loki and I also happened to be married for… what? Six years?”  
“Five and a half? We divorced four years ago. Officially. Anyway, we have two kids together.”  
“Her highness princess Hailey is five, and Leiv, who’s not yet spoiled rotten by his father, is two and a half.”  
“And since you did the math already,” Loki ads rather dryly, “yes, we fear the day we have to convince those two that they’re both mine.”  
“You’ve convinced yourself yet?” Angie asks nonchalantly and laughs as Loki elbows her in the ribs.   
  
“Besides, it’s probably Steve you should be asking about this kind of dealings,” Loki says, his grin taking an unmistakable turn to wicked. “He’s the likeliest ring-bearer of us after all.”  
Across the table from Darcy Steve lets out a sigh and hides theatrically behind a dessert menu.   
“Yes!” Angie joins in eagerly. “I’ve been waiting for the invitation for months, I want to wear a pretty dress!”  
“I’ve already picked up the shoes,” Pepper ads somewhat dreamingly.   
“What makes you think you’re invited? Any of you?” Steve groans as if in pain. “Let’s just say we’ve talked about it. Nothing’s decided yet.”   
There’s a collective ‘aww’ and a quiet moment of sipping drinks before Pepper turns to Darcy: “What about you?”  
  
***  
  
To: Bucky   
At the hotel, more or less safe and sane. Just call me when you can, k? Love you. - Steve  
  
***  
  
Darcy shoves her video camera into Phil’s hands and joins the buzz of greetings taking place in the hotel lobby: the X-Wives have arrived. She sweeps Jane Foster into an embrace the other woman returns with a delighted laugh; in the crazy coincidences of her life Darcy ranks getting to know the guitarist very high since they first met in a summer university physics project with Jane as a research assistant and Darcy as a recorder. Jane has a research project of her own now but she bravely thinks there are forty-eight hours in a day and somehow finds time to do the band too.   
  
Moira MacTaggert and Pepper are hugging just as enthusiastically: in addition to their shared love of sensible blouses and jackets they share a connection in the life-long friendship of Tony and Charles Xavier, Moira being Charles’ ex-wife. Tony is giving his hearty welcomes to another old friend in the form of Emma Frost (who, Darcy had just learned, had been the first choice for Lowkeys’ keyboardist and refused the offer); Angie is already chatting with Angel the bassist, and as the latter takes off her leather jacket turns out they’re connected by the huge tattooed fairy wings on Angel’s back, shoulders and arms.   
  
Raven Darkholme, the lead singer-guitarist, and Loki are wrapped around each other like vines.   
  
***  
  
“How does this work again?” Darcy asks warily a couple of hours later, eyeing the tray Natasha sets on the table. The four of them are seated in the corner table of a nice pub. There are twelve shot glasses, and since everyone’s on their third or fourth drink already she anticipates a quick rise of the inebriation level in the following moments.   
“A rite of passage,” Natasha explains, offering each of them a glass. “Establishing a ‘you do your thing and I do mine and we shall not jump on each other’s toes’ mentality for the tour.”  
“Bringing you into the holy circle of sisterhood of borrowed tampons and shoulders to cry on,” Pepper continues with a serious nod. She’s changed her all-business uniform to blue jeans and layered white t-shirt and for the first time in Darcy’s presence looks like she’s relaxing.   
  
“And since you represent the press alongside women,” Angie says and salutes, “fuck with us, or our boys, and we’ll _fuck you up_.”  
“Other than that, it’s a drinking game,” Natasha concludes, her threatening frown she underlines Angie’s words with turning into a devilish grin. “You ask a question, everyone answers - you included - and drinks the shot. Then we move to the next question.”   
“Sounds easy enough?” Darcy says and takes an encouraging sip of her beer. “Who goes first?”  
  
“I’ll go, just to keep up with who’s fucking who and to brief Darcy in,” Angie grins with her eyes glinting mischievously. “So, the band, the warm-up act and all the crew included, who have you had sex with?”  
“Clint,” Natasha says without hesitation, “as you all already knew or guessed, yes, I know, we’re that obvious. And Coulson. And I’m also relatively sure I fucked the X-Wives’ bassist in some LGBT party a couple of years back.”  
“Relatively as in…?” Darcy prompts with raised eyebrows.   
“Relatively as in too many vodka shots after shitty three weeks with a band full of assholes,” she grins and downs her shot without blinking.   
  
“Tony,” Pepper says, rolling her eyes. “But only when we were honourably dating. After that there was one occasion including a very shady possibility of a stoned-off-our-asses threesome with Tony and Bruce, but I never got into that, which is kind of a pity, I guess. And Coulson,” she adds offering Natasha a lazy high-five.   
“So is this Coulson a thing or what?” Darcy asks.  
“Coulson’s like some kind of James Bond,” Pepper sighs with a wide smile. “He’s actually big in the SHIELD Records business, but obviously he has this strange calling for driving around with a bunch of drunkards.”   
  
“I think I should go out more, ‘cause I still have just Loki,” Angie says when Pepper doesn’t continue, and they cling they glasses together before knocking them back.   
“Are you still intimate with him?” Pepper asks when she’s done making faces at the taste of the drink.   
“Nah,” Angie shakes her head, “not since Leiv was born, I guess he was the evidence we were done going down that road.”   
  
“Do you ever miss Loki?” Darcy blurts before she can hold the words back, but damn if she ever missed a chance to understand the subjects of her investigation.   
Angie shrugs. “Not really, he’s always there for me and the kids, but now that I’ve been getting back to this whole dating business I have to admit I’m missing some parts of him.”  
“As in it’s not just a legend that he’s got a fucking huge cock?” Natasha suggests.   
“As in,” Angie laughs. “But what about Miss Lewis here?”   
“Can I just drink if I’ve got nothing to share?”  
“You go ahead.”   
  
Darcy empties the glass with the burning liquor resisting surprisingly little on the way.   
“Okay, my turn!” Pepper says. “Let’s keep it within the same people, but this time the question is who would you _like_ _to_ have sex with?”  
“I’ll say Coulson,” Angie states firmly and takes her second shot. “And possibly Raven if that wasn’t too odd.”  
“I’ll say Bruce,” Darcy confesses, “’cause I’ve had this enormous fangirl crush on him since forever, and when my friends were always drooling after Tony or Steve I just wanted to make a nest in Bruce’s chest hair. Which is totally healthy and all. But Clint’s also kinda cute. And Thor’s absolutely yummy.”   
  
“I’ll say Tony against all my better judgement,” Natasha smirks, and Darcy almost chokes on her drink when both Pepper and Angie let out a very girly squeal. “But,” she continues, “that’s only if I’m allowed to bind and gag him.”  
“Tony’s got nothing against a little bondage here and there, so it would probably be an early Christmas for him,” Pepper says with a conviction that can only come from experience. “As for me, I think I can’t choose between Steve and Thor, since they’re both so adorable. Not that I’d have too many chances on Steve. And okay, Loki, ‘cause curiosity killed the cat and all.”   
  
“Let’s go the next round with those gags and such,” Darcy says and already hears her own voice through the haze of the second shot and doesn’t care if it’s a tactical move or not. “What’s the kinkiest thing you’ve done so far?”   
  
***  
  
Raven sits on the edge of Loki’s hotel room bed while Loki occupies the only available chair. It’s not one or two times he’s not recognised the woman when she’s turned up, but at least this time her hair colour is still the same as last week (her natural blond) even though the vintage queen in killer heels and a huge hat has morphed into a girl in miniature denim shorts and a grey Alice Cooper t-shirt.   
  
Raven’s brought a video camera to document the tour; Loki holds it up and presses record.  
  
“Raven Darkholme. Also known as _Mystique._ If you were a Disney princess, what would your name be?”   
Raven purses her lips. “A tough one for starters? I think I’d be the evil step-sister.”   
“What kind of evil?”  
“The kind of evil who makes her brother the prince frown like this.” She makes a face indicating she’s very disappointed but tries to contain the emotion.   
  
“What made you leave your brother’s band and form your own? Is the rumour true that you and prince Charles were fucking the same huntsman who happens to play drums and has a smile any Great White would be jealous of?”   
Raven snorts: “He can fuck the seven dwarves for all I care. No, our visions just didn’t fit in the same group anymore. And hey, the current band’s called The _Brotherhood_ , and I’m not saying I don’t have balls bigger than any of those fellas, but it’s not like I really belonged there anymore.”  
“Is it easier to work with women?”   
“No, but it’s easier to work with people who aren’t related or otherwise emotionally attached to you since year zero. You should know.” When Loki doesn’t answer, Raven sighs and sticks out her tongue: “Suit yourself. Anyway, some things are easier with girls and some things are easier with guys. Obviously.”   
  
“How has spending your adult years in a band consisting mostly of men affected the way you see yourself as a woman?”   
“First I tried to establish the idea that I’m a girl. Then I spent years trying to be one of the guys. Now I’m getting back to this whole girl-thing, and even though I imagined I was quite tough back then I’ve realised I’m much tougher now that I don’t pretend to be.”  
“Would you say you are happy with yourself? That you’re proud to be who you are? That you like yourself?”  
Raven smiles, and Loki zooms the camera in her eyes that do not smile at all. “Would I be here if I was?”   
  
As Loki turns off the camera and places it on the small table Raven kicks off her shoes and rises to her knees on the bed: “The evil step-sister still had some princess in her, and she never knew how lovely and brave and beautiful she was unless there was someone else to tell her that.”  
“You are beautiful,” Loki says, and it comes out automatically but at least he means it, “and any prince would be lucky to have you.”  
  
“What about evil step-brothers?” she asks and makes an exaggerated show of pulling her t-shirt over her head and dropping it on the floor to accompany the shoes. “I’ve always been more into them anyway.”  
Loki tilts his head to indicate he’s appreciating the view. “I think they would be the most eager ones to tell these things to you, and at the same time they would be absolutely _ripped_ with guilt because they know they just don’t deserve such an exceptional creature as you.”   
“Because they struggle with the same problems concerning self-worth?”   
“You’re getting good at this.”  
  
“Learned from the master. And this tale kind of grows on you, doesn’t it?” Raven huffs and rolls relatively gracefully on her back to wriggle out of her shorts. “But what happens next?” she asks and locks her eyes with Loki. “Can the evil ones pretend to be something else for a while? Or pretend to pretend, because they know each other anyway?”  
“What would you pretend?”   
“I want to be a princess,” Raven says. “And I want to forget all pathetic excuses for knights in shiny armors and get fucked by this beautiful mysterious stranger.”  
  
Loki finds himself smiling as he gets up from the chair, takes the required three steps deliberately slowly and lies down next to Raven. Propped up on one elbow he tugs a stray strand of hair behind her ear: “Will it hurt you? Afterwards?”   
“In my world it doesn’t count as a fuck if it doesn’t hurt somehow,” Raven laughs and in one more or less swift move rolls him on his back, straddles his hips and presses her elbows on both sides of his head, and when she speaks again, lips brushing against his lips, she’s practically purring. “We’re a little sick like that, aren’t we?”   
  
“Tell me about it,” Loki mutters before capturing those lips in an eager kiss. He leaves one hand to draw small circles on her thigh and lets the other roam on her side, slow patterns up and back down again before unfastening her bra (delightfully practical blue cotton with white dots instead of the more dramatic lacy ones he’s also had the pleasure to remove from her). Raven’s breasts fit into his hands just as perfectly as he remembered.   
  
They make it slow and sweet for starters with a few nasty pinches and bites here and there, and by the time Loki slides his hand between her thighs she’s making lovely whimpering noises.   
“What do you want me to do?” Loki whispers against Raven’s ear, catching the earlobe between his lips, and as he keeps rubbing her with a single finger though the thin fabric of her panties he’s glad to notice she’s nicely wet already. “Because I have to say, I would love to eat you out.”  
Raven lets out a strangled noise and pushes herself up to a sitting position, where she rocks her hips in search of more contact with the devious finger: “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind that.”  
  
For Loki Raven’s a sweet, good girl with various fake identities and a knack for self-destructive behaviour. When they first met (when they first fell in love for one night) they didn’t meet as Raven and Loki but Mystique, the FBI’s most wanted master thief, and Skywalker, a misunderstood folklorist with conspiracy theories.  
They hadn’t any intention of meeting again: not until Loki was invited to Charles Xavier’s album release party and introduced to his little sister.   
  
In another life Loki would be absolutely crazy about her: all the fairy-tale princesses, all the evil step-sisters and the Little Match Girl packed in one gorgeous young woman who’s, at the same time, so irreversibly broken and yet so strong it’s enough to scare him.   
  
In this life he sees too much of himself in her.  
  
***  
  
“We have to go out,” Tony states the moment he steps out of the bathroom, still furiously drying his hair and a cloud of steam following him. “Bruce, we _have to_.”  
“Do you mean out, or do you mean _out_?” Bruce inquires from behind a local newspaper he’s leafing flat on his back on his bed with much less enthusiasm than Tony has probably hoped for. “Because I feel obliged to remind you we’re not that young anymore, and going _out_ with kids only leads to tears and hangovers.”  
  
“Oh god, you’re turning into Steve!” Tony moans and pries the paper from the other man’s hands. When Bruce protests, Tony ends up climbing to sit on top of him with the aid of some dirty but effective wrestling moves, taking a firm grip of his wrists and pinning his friend into place. “Bruce? Can you hear me? Just hang in there, buddy, we’ll figure out a way to get you out!”   
  
“You’re a nuisance, you know that?” Bruce sighs and gently kicks Tony’s back - the only place he can reach - with his knee as he releases Bruce’s arms and sits back to eye him suspiciously. “Remember the last time I went out with you? You got laid while I discussed North Korea’s foreign politics with the girl’s mother.”   
“Which only proves you’re the best wingman I’ve ever had?” After another kick Tony raises his hands in surrender: “Okay, okay, got it, but still, c’mon, let’s find a hippie, buy some weed and go sit in a nice park before grabbing a beer or two?”  
Bruce gives him a crooked smile: “What makes you think I didn’t bring my own drugs?”   
“This is exactly why I love you,” Tony says and bends down to give a kiss on his forehead before jumping off and starting to throw things out of his suitcase in search for new set of clothes.   
  
Tony knows he’s lucky to get another chance to play in the same band with Bruce: maybe without wrecked hotel rooms this time.  
  
***  
  
When Clint gets frustrated with his Nintendo DS after a couple of hours of playing he prompts the idea of checking out the whisky supplies of the lobby bar to Phil, with whom he’s more than happy to share a room - if their sleeping rhythms don’t match they can both maintain a ninja mode to get in and out of the room without waking the other.   
  
They have barely tasted their drinks before they see Stark and Banner stepping out of the elevator and heading for the street, chatting in low voices with their heads together.   
  
“You think Stark’s still using?” Clint asks as the door slides shut behind the men.    
Phil shakes his head: “Pepper says he’s not, and I hope she can tell. I guess it’s just drinking for him nowadays. Or do we count marijuana as a drug?”  
Everyone knows about Stark’s drug addiction, but Clint has to admit the way Stark kept the media (and the police) off his track for several years is remarkable even in the history of music business.   
“I guess we don’t as long as he’s somewhat functional.”  
  
***  
  
The background noise in the pub is so loud Darcy has to shout for the microphone to catch her voice, and shout she does, holding the camera an arm’s length from her face.    
“Hi, I’m Darcy Lewis, and I’m…” someone bumps into her and she bursts into a fit of giggles, “I’m _so fucking drunk_ right now, it’s like, like some crazy-ass freshman year flashback. I tell you, these bitches are fucking crazy!” There’s a cacophony of cheers, and after a moment of tugging and shifting Darcy gets the rest of their company into the picture. “I mean, I thought I could hold my liquor but this, this is some form of fucking art. Please, tell the world how it is freakin’ possible to drink like that!”  
  
“I’m Russian!” Natasha shouts, no clear evidence of inebriation on her face or posture.   
“I’m a Viking! Or Icelandic heritage at least!” Angie laughs.   
“I work for Stark Industries!” Pepper screams and takes a gulp of her pint. “Oh shit fuck, I shouldn’t have said that, that sounded wrong!”   
“There are some guys who want to teach us Norwegian!” Darcy continues when they’re done making jokes about Pepper getting fired. “If I don’t speak Norwegian in the next two hours… well, I’ve probably died. Let’s see what happens!”   
  
***  
  
As very much predicted, Darcy doesn’t make it to the soundcheck at four in the afternoon, and Natasha supposes she’s a bad person for laughing. Angie, who’s setting examples of the Lowkeys and X-Wives t-shirts on the wall behind her stand outside the concert room, looks more or less radiant without a hint of hangover.   
  
Thor, who has been doing the heavy lifting with Coulson and the Commandos, is there chatting with Clint and some guy who’s mixed there before and knows the peculiar routines every place has. It starts surprisingly smoothly, and by the time Steve walks in they’re pretty much done with the drums which are standing proudly on their platform above the rest of the stage.   
  
“Okay, Thor, stay there, and Steve, be a darling for daddy and take the bass, let’s get it over with,” Clint says without lifting his gaze from the console his fingers are dancing on.   
“Yeah, I promised we’d prepare Loki’s toys as well, he comes as soon as he can but he’s still with the press,” Steve says and climbs on the stage, picks up the first of Tony’s very visibly Stark labelled instruments and plugs it in, and as he looks across the empty floor at Clint Natasha cannot help but think that for a moment he looks more than a bit lost.  
  
***  
  
To: American Beauty; Bruce Campbell; Don’t Answer; Eyes of a Hawk; Loki; Phil; Tasha; Thor   
  
Dress rehearsal @ 17:30, dress optional, pants obligatory. - Pepper  
  
***

“…and Granny explained what time zones are. I think I understand them now.”

Leiv hasn’t quite grasped the concept of Skype just yet so he wanders in and out of the web cam’s view, but even if he’s not sure how his parents are speaking in the computer he’s his usual happy camper self and not too worried about the situation. Hailey, on the other hand, sits firmly still and concentrates on her communicational task, yet she never ceases petting Mug, Odin’s St. Bernard, who rests his huge head on the girl’s knee and drools blissfully. 

“That’s great! Many adults don’t understand them,” Angie congratulates her and knows better than to tell Hailey there are things she ‘doesn’t need to understand at her age’ because it’s the best way to awaken her interest. “I would love to hear more but we have to get going so we won’t be late from the gig.”

“It’s okay, I have to take Mug for a walk anyway” Hailey permits graciously, “but if it’s Daddy’s gig how can he be late for it? They can’t exactly start without him.” 

“They can’t, true, but it would be very rude to keep people waiting,” Loki explains, keeping his tone serious even if he really would like to grin, equally at his daughter being a smartass and at the mental image of ‘taking Mug for a walk’: it’s usually the other way round since the animal has obviously dedicated its life to taking care of the two tiny humans whenever they’re around. He wonders how much the dog affected his decision to let the kids stay at his parents for the time Angie’s on the tour.

“I was kidding,” Hailey sneers and rolls her eyes dramatically. “Play well so I don’t have to be ashamed of you.”   
“I’ll try. I love you too, sweetheart,” Loki smiles.    
“Love you. And Leiv too!” Angie adds when there’s a brief flash of their son rushing by. “Try to behave like civilised people, okay?”   
“Like it’s us you need to worry about,” Hailey mutters with a knowing little smile and waves before turning off the camera.    
  
***   
  
“It’s twenty minutes before the show, I’ve got this,” Darcy lifts her backstage pass into camera’s view, “and I’m in the dressing room with Mr. Stark.” She turns the camera around to film Tony and leave herself out of the picture. “Tony, tell me what’s happening.”   
  
“Well, gorgeous, Natasha and the guys are on stage making sure everything’s still working, I volunteered to help since, well, I designed most of the tech but they told me to fuck off,” Tony explains, faking a pout. “The Wives were kind enough to play on a smaller stage than us so most of our stuff has been on place since afternoon. Everyone’s getting changed, Loki’s obviously opening his voice somewhere, Thor and Steve are very likely performing gymnastic exercises, and I tell you, it doesn’t look too sane with their iPod headphones on… Hell, it doesn’t look too sane no matter how they do it, it’s like gorillas warming up for a fistfight. Bruce’s meditating, bless that guy’s mind.”    
  
Tony salutes her with the plastic cup in his hand: “As for me, I’m enjoying my second bourbon and coke and trying to remember the lyrics, even though I’m of course hoping the audience would be eager to do most of the backing vocals. Raven has almost an hour to pull herself back together before she comes back to stage to do her vocals.”    
  
***   
  


***

Loki steps on the stage bathing in the poison green light and people start _screaming_.  
  
***  
  
It’s not a perfect gig but it’s a perfect opening for the tour, the kind that allows taking care of the little mistakes in the next training session and concentrate on celebrating tonight. Angie stands in the back row and can’t help but stare in wonder: it’s so weird to see Loki and Thor playing together without their usual companions, and it’s weird to see Steve and Tony playing together again, and it still looks like Loki and the Lowkeys and not some Jotunheim or Avengers reunion.   
  
And of course it sounds so good Angie can only close her eyes from time to time and find herself nodding or tapping her feet or fingers or swaying her hips to the rhythm, and when Tony commands them to sing along she does, and she wonders if it would be even more enjoyable if she didn’t know exactly what the lyrics are about.   
  
***  
  
Steve’s fairly okay with a minor invisible hand strangling him until he gets to the hotel room’s bathroom where the tiles start blurring and a cold sweat breaks on his skin now that the hot one has dried. 

He fights the urge to throw up, in vain, and is briefly thankful most of his dinner doesn’t look the same in the toilet bowl as it did going down. It helps a little, though, at least just enough for him to somehow manage to take a quick shower and even brush his teeth, but the lump in his throat isn’t going anywhere.  
  
He wants to scream, alone, preferably huddled in a corner, but has no such luck.   
“Steve? Are you alright?”   
He hasn’t heard Thor coming in.   
He would very much like to summon a smile and go to sleep (sleeping would be good without the nightmares) but his knees decide for him and give in as soon as he’s out of the bathroom, so he slumps on the couch that happens to be nearer than the beds.   
  
And then he starts shaking.   
“Hey,” Thor says softly, like addressing a freaked out animal, and abandons whatever he’s doing, “what’s the matter?”   
Steve should tell him it’s nothing, he really should, he hates it when people worry about him, but speaking feels unrealistic now that breathing is getting harder and harder. He suffered from asthma as a kid: he’s all too familiar with hearing his own breath wheezing even if it hasn’t happened almost in a decade.   
  
He thinks about Bucky.   
  
“Steve,” Thor says, suddenly sitting next to him and draping an arm over his shoulders, radiating warmth, “you’re having a panic attack.”   
  
It should be funny because he certainly doesn’t have a panic disorder. _And Bucky doesn’t have a fucking arm to drape over his shoulders._   
  
Still, it makes sense in some part of his brain, and as Thor tells him, repeatedly and firmly, to breathe he concentrates on getting air into his lungs.   
  
_Breathe._  
  
Steve doesn’t know how long it takes for his sharp, shallow breaths to calm down. What he knows is that he will choke if he doesn’t let out a sob.   
  
He’s still trembling, violently, but he breathes and can finally focus on something else, and he can’t look because he’s too ashamed, but he turns his head enough to rest it on Thor’s shoulder with his eyes closed, and Thor hugs him.   
  
***

“You would make a perfect villain.”  
“Oh?” Loki doesn’t bother to look surprised, only mildly curious. “Then tell me, what kind of villain would I be?”    
"I was thinking the psychopath kind,” Raven admits and zooms the camera into Loki’s smile and back again.    
“Would you be a likely victim for me?” Loki asks.    
“As likely as anyone else, ‘cause there would be this _And Then There Were None_ kind of set-up. Tell me, Loki, who would come back from the tour?”


	3. Stockholm

****  
((“ _A project_?” Bucky repeated in disbelief, his hand holding a coffee mug frozen comically halfway between the table and his lips. “You’re saying you call back and you’re in for _an album and a world tour_ with Loki Laufeyson and Tony fucking Stark? And you call it a little project?”  
  
Steve kept fiddling with the cell-phone in his hands as he nodded and didn’t quite look Bucky in the eye: “Yeah. But to be fair, Tony made it sound a lot less bizarre.”   
“If I remember correctly, Tony has that effect on people,” Bucky said and did nothing to hide the undertone of disapproval. “Do you want to get in?”  
“It doesn’t hurt to meet them for further discussion, does it?”  
  
Some twelve hours later Bucky asked again; Steve said yes.   
“Maybe it’ll be good for you, getting back in a band. If the last year doesn’t count, you were happier when you were in the band.”  
  
Actually Steve was happier when Bucky was happier, but it wasn’t something they knew how to voice out anymore. Lost in a thought Steve traced the outlines of the scar tissue splashed over the left side of Bucky’s ribcage; he didn’t touch the even more scarred stub of his boyfriend’s arm, ending right above where his elbow used to be. A Special Forces soldier, WIA _somewhere_ doing _something_ Steve was never supposed to know about.   
They were lucky Bucky was still alive. Sometimes Steve wasn’t sure if Bucky believed it. They’d fought about it. They rarely fought about anything nowadays.    
  
“My rock star,” Bucky grinned, almost as fondly as he used to.  
“My hero,” Steve laughed back, leaning in to kiss him.))   
  
***  
  
[Darcy!Cam]  
  
“What about The Avengers?”  
  
“I think it was a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’,” Bruce says and shifts in his chair, running a hand through his hair. “After _Registration Act_ we were a time-bomb waiting to go off, all of us having all kinds of issues in our lives outside the band, and when the issues crept into the band and the band into the real life…” He makes a face that settles to a lopsided smile: “Ka-boom.”   
  
***  
  
[Darcy!Cam]  
  
Steve shifts in his chair, clearly uncomfortable: “I’m not sure if I want to talk about the Avengers just yet, but I say this: we all made our choices, some of them bad, and now we just have to move on with the consequences.”   
  
***  
  
[Darcy!Cam]  
  
Loki smiles mildly at the question: “You can’t talk about this larger-than-life kind of music with this kind of line-up without talking about the Avengers, and when we decided to play live we knew people were expecting some kind of explanations. We still don’t know if we can give any.”   
  
***  
  
[Darcy!Cam]  
  
Tony lets out a short laugh: “Yeah, well, after _Registration Act_ it was pretty much me doing drugs rather than playing, Bruce doing a mental breakdown, Carol doing SHIELD rather than the Avengers, Steve doing some serious reality-check on his life in general and Jan doing her best to deal with our bullshit. It’s kinda cute that most people see it as a lovers’ quarrel between me and Steve, and maybe the public part of it was, I don’t deny it, but let me tell you that every single one of us is a fucking nightmare to be around when we’re stressed enough.”  
  
***  
  
[Darcy!Cam]  
  
“Since I got this job I’ve been doing a little… oh, screw that, I’ve been doing a shitload of homework about you guys, including reading, like, every article ever written about you and Loki and Jotunheim, and I have a question,” Darcy tries her best to pierce her glance into Thor’s frontal lobe, “concerning your kinship with Loki.”  
“How come?” Thor looks genuinely surprised.   
  
“Well, in his interviews along the road he’s told the press he’s your step-brother from your mother’s side, that he’s your cousin from your father’s side, that he’s adopted, that he’s your twin, that he’s your best friend since childhood, that he was raised by wolves and that he suffers from amnesia and has no memory of his past. Can you enlighten me which one is the true story?”   
Thor smiles at the list, a little sad smile, and even if Darcy’s not one to give up easily she already knows she’s not gonna get the answer.   
“He’s my brother. For me it’s all that matters.”  
  
***  
  
[Darcy!Cam]  
  
“Tell me…” Darcy places the camera on a bar stool so that it’s on about the same level with the sitting men’s faces and presses rec, “which bands and artists have had the biggest impact on you, your music, or the way you feel or think about music?”   
  
Tony’s wearing a crisp white shirt and a vest with his vintage washed blue jeans but Darcy knows the sunglasses aren’t there for an effect as much as they’re hiding the bags under his eyes. Loki doesn’t look like he’s slept that much either, and Darcy has to envy him: with his black clothes and carelessly combed hair he manages to look only mysterious instead of ruffled.   
  
“Tony’s gonna say Black Sabbath,” Loki says, and Tony nods obediently.   
“Black Sabbath. I hate categorising music, ‘cause I should probably say I like 70’s hard rock but I don’t like all 70’s hard rock, in fact, I like only a small fraction of it, so I just usually name bands and people. So, yes, Sabbath. Deep Purple. AC/DC. Rainbow. Metallica when they were still good, I don’t understand what happened to those guys. They’re like Madonna, I used to worship her and now I feel a nagging need to destroy something if I even see her face somewhere. Which brings us to Slayer. And Pantera! The usual suspects for anyone balancing between rock and metal. And now I’m categorising. Loki, give me ten bands or artists.”   
  
“Ten?” Loki purses his lips and thinks for a couple of seconds. “The Cure, The Sisters of Mercy, Queen, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tori Amos, Danzig, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Fields of the Nephilim, Moonspell, Opeth.”  
“You’re so fucking goth you shit bats,” Tony sighs.   
“Which is why I’m going to add that I could give you a list of another ten or twenty names consisting only of Scandinavian death metal bands,” Loki shrugs. “And yet another of contemporary pop acts, since it’s always relevant to mention that Lady Gaga is a goddess, but those are the bands I grew up listening to.”   
  
“It’s actually kind of disturbing now that I come to think of it, your goth combined with all the swords and dragons you sing about in Jotunheim.”  
Loki raises an eyebrow: “I have _never_ written a song about dragons.”   
  
***

***

[Darcy!Cam]  
  
“Were there any team building exercises outside the playing together before the tour or did all of you know each other already?”  
  
“We did get criminally drunk a couple of times,” Tony says. “Had dinner together a few times too, but nothing more official than that. I’ve hanged out with Bruce the most after the album came out.”  
“I obviously see Thor often enough anyway. Tony and I didn’t have too much time for each other between the album and this tour when we weren’t training,” Loki continues.  
“I missed you, baby,” Tony sighs and takes a hold of the singer’s hand. “Hurt like hell, not being able to see you every day.”  
“I know. Breaking hearts, it keeps me young.”  
“Fucker.”  
  
“Anyway,” Loki continues after patting Tony on the back, “I think Steve and Thor were the ones who bonded more deeply since they actually have something in common outside the band.”  
“The last time I checked they were playing tennis on Mondays and going to the gym together on Thursdays.”  
“Thor helped Steve to renovate their front porch a few weeks ago.”  
“God, I always knew Steve took his good person identity too seriously, but there are more people like that?”   
“Oh, believe me, there are,” Loki snorts and it’s possible he sounds more than a little bitter.   
  
***  
  
“There’s this song,” Raven says into the microphone, a little out of breath, readjusting it into a better angle, “that didn’t make it to the album and is only published online…” The audience, now filling more than a half of the room, starts cheering, and Raven grins. “But you know this one. _Bad Dick Related Jokes_.”  
  
“Y’know,” Tony comments when Emma opens the song with a ridiculously simple melody possessing every possible earworm quality known to man and Raven makes the audience jump with her example, “I know a walk of shame when I see one, so Raven and Loki are definitely fucking. The question is, did everyone else know?”  
Steve glances at him from the corner of his eye before pointedly returning his gaze to the stage: “I didn’t, but that would hardly surprise anyone.”  
  
Tony has crossed his arms over his chest and finds his fingers tapping to the rhythm of the song on his sleeve. He had his doubts, he’s not ashamed to admit it, but the X-Wives can actually pull off a live performance with both skill and style.    
“But,” Steve continues after a while, and Tony prepares for a hit because Steve’s _buts_ very rarely promise anything good for him, “maybe you should talk to him, already at this point. I know we’re Loki’s band now, but we’re also Loki’s band that wouldn’t exist without you.”  
  
Tony wants to say he’s got no idea what Steve’s talking about. He doesn’t.   
  
***  
  
Steve likes to think he’s a decent person. Sometimes he definitely feels like he’s being tested. Like now, when Bruce is having his solo, when Steve turns to grin at Thor and can’t help admiring the mouth-watering sight of the drummer’s sweat-soaked white t-shirt clinging to his pecs.   
  
At least he’s decent enough to hate himself for it.    
  
***  
  
After the Lowkeys have played their gig Raven is drunk enough to ask Angie to come out for a cigarette with her and to confess she’s scared of her.  
  
“You know, sweetie,” Angie says when they’ve staggered out of the building’s back door and decided the concrete steps aren’t too filthy to sit on. “I’m too old to stand in front of a mirror every morning asking who’s the prettiest of them all. I mean, what did you expect? That I’d recruit Thor to bring me your heart in a cookie jar?”  
Raven takes a hearty swig of her Jack Daniels before answering: “Thor would take pity on my poor soul and slaughter a wild boar with his bare hands to get an extra heart, and I would be munching on granny’s apple pie knowing nothing of this and just chillin’ and waiting for my date with the Big Bad Wolf.”  
  
“Oh, and I would lock the Wolf away, but you would come looking ‘cause it says in your contract you’re too perfect to be harmed by the other beasts I rule,” Angie hems and follows the younger woman’s example when she offers the bottle to her. They both light a cigarette.  
Raven exhales a long stream of smoke before going on: “And when I’d finally find my love I’d know it’s not polite to eat other people’s houses, and you still wouldn’t have a valid reason to hate me since Operation Gingerbread blows.”  
  
“Exactly,” Angie nods. “So what would you have to fear?”  
“Maybe I fear you’ve talked with Loki and can tell something about me I’m not aware of myself.”  
“I can only tell you’d be perfect for him. But that’s not the point, is it? Have you ever told Loki who he really wants?”  
  
***

[excerpt from an interview]

**You two are responsible for all the compositions and lyrics in the album. How did your co-operation work in practice?**  
  
Stark: “Most of the time Loki would send me more or less raw material from which I put pieces together, added some ideas and sent them back to him.”  
Laufeyson: “Then I would start working on the big pictures and eventually send Tony the first versions of the actual songs with an end and a beginning, and Tony would…”  
Stark: “Tidy up the craziest bits. Arrange and rearrange the parts. But most of the songs still changed a lot after we’d taken them to the rehearsal room.”  
  
***  
  
[Darcy’s notes]  
  
 _Loki’s a fucking lying liar who lies. He’s good enough not to have a pattern or routines and the only way to tell you’ve been screwed is to hear a different version of a story you thought you knew._  
  
 _Maybe he trusts people not being around long enough to call him on his bullshit. Or, which is more likely, he just doesn’t care._  
  
 _It would be journalistic challenge of the year to dig out the truth from beneath all those charming smiles and very much rehearsed stares of inner turmoil, but is it worth it?_  
  
 _What if the made-up story is better than the real one?_  
  
***  
  
“Hey, tell me something about your kids,” Darcy prompts somewhere along the road when everyone’s dozing off or buried their noses in books, magazines or video games.   
“You _are_ aware of the fact that when a mother starts talking about her kids she will never stop?” Angie asks warily.   
“I’ll make you stop when I’m bored enough. Or I’ll just fall asleep.”   
“Wanna see their pictures?”  
“Sure.”  
  
She has two in her wallet and a few on her phone. Leiv is clearly taking after his mother with his wavy light brown hair, he’s cute as a button and smiling in every single picture. Hailey’s smiles appear more rarely, and it’s quite strange to look at a five-year-old girl version of Loki.   
“Totally daddy’s girl, this one,” Angie sighs and taps a shot of Hailey, probably three at this point, and Loki sitting next to each other on a couch with books in their laps. “She’s almost too smart for her own good.”  
  
Angie remembers very vividly her and Loki’s _constructive discussion_ about Hailey’s educational future. Loki wanted her to be able to go to the first grade at six because she was so much ahead of her peers; Angie wanted her to be with kids of her own age and learn to tolerate disparity.   
Loki always fought dirty so Angie didn’t feel too bad pulling the ‘don’t repeat your parents’ mistakes’ card from her sleeve. Or, didn’t feel too bad until Loki didn’t talk to her for a month.   
  
“I know this sounds…” Angie hesitates, “a bit creepy, but Hailey almost died from suffocation when she was born, so she could’ve had a better start. She also suffers from a muscular dystrophy, and even if her prognosis is very positive, it’s like she’s very aware of her condition and understands the fragility of life on levels most adults cannot operate.”  
“Oh,” Darcy mutters, and from her expression Angie knows this story will not end up printed anywhere. “Poor thing.”   
  
“Leiv, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He ain’t much of a talker but he’s always moving and doing something. Hailey once suggested we’d put him in a cage when there are no ever-watchful eyes on him. I laughed then, but when I caught him from the third step of the ladder leading to the roof I started reconsidering,” Angie pauses and her smile takes a little turn to sad. “Leiv’s favourite person in the world is Uncle Thor.”  
  
***  
  
THE HOLY BUS CODE  
  
#7 Farts are not funny.  
#8 …except when they totally are. 

***

“Hey, should we play Tell About Your Tattoo?” Tony suggests merrily when Loki pulls a hoodie over his head in the bus and the t-shirt underneath rises just high enough to reveal there’s a tree inked on his back.    
“Is that a real game?” Steve mutters.    
Tony hands him another can of beer; Darcy slaps him and is already looking for her camera. “It is now! Any game involving naked body parts is a game worth playing.”    
“Does your current opinion have anything to do with the fact that there was a full bottle wine an hour ago?” Natasha asks. 

“Pffft. Details, details!” Darcy concludes with a wave of her hand (that hits Clint in the nose). 


	4. Helsinki

 

((Months ago they exhaled the frustration with the cigarette smoke and went back inside, Loki sat in front of the old piano instead of his guitar, and when he started toying with the melody again Tony knew they’d got it. Loki didn’t protest when Tony accompanied him on the piano stool and on the keys, and after some mishaps and fumbling Tony found himself taking care of the main theme while Loki’s fingers made the newborn song grow and stretch.   
  
It wasn’t a happy song, but for a few happy moments they nurtured their sad offspring as a two-headed, four-armed creature with a shared vision, and suddenly Tony knew how Frankensteins and their brides must feel like.   
  
With the fading of the last notes Tony laughed and rest his hand on Loki’s shoulder, and Loki turned to him with a smile on his face, and maybe it was the endorphin rush or the genuineness of the smile that made Tony wonder, mesmerised, what would it take to make that smile appear more often.))   
  
***  
  
They’re a sweaty mess and so is the bed, and the room reeks of sex despite the air conditioning doing its best. Loki’s already come once so he’s not waiting another climax but it’s pleasurable nonetheless, having someone inside him, and Raven’s either experienced or a natural talent at what she’s doing.   
  
“Do you want me to tell you a story?” Raven asks after spending a breath-hitching while scraping her teeth along his inner thigh and placing a small kiss on his knee.   
“Isn’t it usually dirty talk people want, or offer?” Loki inquires as evenly as he can.   
“I can tell you a dirty story,” the young woman answers without hesitation, and Loki has to laugh: Raven scissors her fingers and his laugh turns into a moan.   
  
“Once upon a time,” she starts, “there was a girl named Raven who wanted to be a real boy, but that is really not important because she’s not a main character.” She withdraws her hand to add some more lube and repositions herself so that she’s looming over Loki. “The evil step-brother we’ve already met is very important, because he’s going to get the prince.”   
“I thought we were short of eligible royalties here?”  
Raven grins wickedly: “There’s one, a prince who was fallen and lost but has now returned to reclaim his kingdom.”   
  
Raven has even filthier mouth than Loki has ever dreamt of, and eventually her cunning fingers fuck him into another orgasm.   
  
***  
  
“As you may know, we’ve been playing a different cover song for each city so far,” Tony says when the applause for _There’s No Throne_ has died down a bit and Loki has gestured him to start while he rushes to consult Natasha. “We’ve never claimed this band is a democracy but everyone’s got to pick a song at least once, and you can blame Thor for this particular one. So, a song from a gorgeous artist called Adele. You may’ve heard of her?” he grins at the cheers the announcement causes. “It’s called _Set Fire to the Rain_.”   
  
Loki hurries back to his microphone stand with Natasha giving them all a thumbs-up from her spot.  
  
When Tony joins his voice with Loki’s in the first chorus and Loki turns to look him in the eye he thinks Thor had more reasons for his choice than his unconditional love for Adele.   
  
***  
  
It’s actually great fun now that she’s paying attention to it, and it being the third gig already Darcy decides she can afford to concentrate on shooting some evidence of those undeniable moments of flirt.   
  
Whenever Thor’s not frowning with particularly strained concentration or panting, emptying one water bottle after another and drying sweat with a towel, he’s smiling, and that smile says he’s more than happy to be there playing for whoever’s present.   
  
It’s actually Steve who gets the loudest - or at least the most high-pitched - attention from female fans admiring his looks as much as his guitar skills, but the male ones roar hard enough to balance things out and Steve does his best to provide thankful smiles for everyone. His extra picks he tries to deal out to the future guitar heroes worshipping him with their eyes wide and fingers twitching.   
  
Tony flirts shamelessly like the epic scale rock star he knows he is.   
  
Bruce lets the others draw the spotlight to themselves but he’s still very visibly and audibly adored and it seems to confuse him time and again.   
  
Loki’s great at it, not that it would surprise anyone. He knows how to take his audience and make those sweeping glances over the crowd that feel like they’re catching everyone. Sometimes he closes in on himself to concentrate or pays more attention to his fellow players, but then he picks up someone catching his attention one way or another, looks them in the eye and they definitely get an extra bonus to the concert experience.   
  
Darcy laughs out loud when Loki spots her at the end of the first row and the next verse is definitely sung to her and her alone. She waves and sends him a kiss; Loki winks at her before turning away; the girl next to Darcy looks about ready to die of envy.   
  
***

“I was away for fifteen minutes,” Pepper moans as soon as she returns to the crime scene. “Is this a contest now?”   
It’s their first official bar crawl with the X-Wives and she’s managed to get them VIP passes to a night club. The current activity started out with an improvised bastard child of truth-or-dare and a drinking game including a card deck; it has evolved since Darcy nailed her lap dance challenge.  
  
“It is,” Phil confirms, speaking up over the loud beat of music. “Everyone picked up a song, Natasha just went to convince the DJ to play the list. You can still submit your wish if you want.”  
“I think I’ll pass.”  
Phil hears the desperation in her voice and pats her on the shoulder: “Then they choose the lap that has to belong to someone they haven’t had or aren’t having sex with, perform, and the audience and other participants then vote for the winner.”  
  
“Okay, listen up!” Natasha shouts as she strides back from her journey. “He doesn’t only play the list but also tries to see that everyone gets to dance approximately the same amount of time. May the best ass or moves win!”   
Pepper’s not sure if she should laugh or cry.   
  
She settles for laughing with tears in her eyes when Clint goes first with _Sexy and I Know It_ and drags a horrified-looking Moira to be his primary audience. It’s not like Clint couldn’t dance, he just tries to make it so that the X-Wives drummer would crack up too, and eventually she does. Tony is next to dance for Angie causing almost as much laughter.   
  
Angel with her dark eyes, dark hair and a little black dress combined with knee-high boots is up next and decides to take Tony back on stage with her: no-one laughs if not for Tony’s face indicating that Christmas came early. After the sensual performance Darcy (who ground in Bruce’s lap for the drinking game but demands an official try) shows her moves to Thor who looks just as delighted as Tony. Raven picks Emma and the show ends up lingering on the thin line between erotic and simply beautiful. Natasha tells the violently blushing Steve to “shut up, you’re big enough to climb on!” and proves that the insanely high heels she’s wearing don’t restrain her at all.   
  
Loki’s the last one to perform and he unbuttons and takes off his shirt with a cheeky grin to reveal the white tank top underneath. He takes a sip of his drink and waits for Lady Gaga’s _Paparazzi_ to start before walking over to Tony, grabbing him by his tie and walking him to the chair again.   
  
***  
  
Tony’s eyebrows try to reach his hairline but he hardly hears the cheers and cat-calls as Loki nails him to the place with his gaze. And then he moves his hips and Tony has to swallow hard.   
  
Three minutes later he’s got Loki literally in his lap straddling him and panting slightly with a grin on his face, and before Tony has to decide whether to grab his ass or not Loki leans forward to whisper the words into his ear: “Let’s get a little more drunk and go to the hotel to empty my mini bar.”   
“Yep,” Tony agrees gladly. “You know, I wasn’t even gay until two minutes ago.”  
  
***  
  
In the end they don’t really make it to the mini bar.   
  
Shoes: sometimes they’re insanely difficult to take off. The carpet has bumps.   
  
It definitely has _bumps_ , wicked bumps trying to make Tony trip over.   
  
The sheer whiteness of the sheets looks so inviting.   
  
It’s an inevitable collapse.   
  
A heap, actually, but they’re not too fast to disentangle.   
  
Does he recognise that cologne?   
  
He recognises the smile, that’s for sure.  
  
“Wanna see you smile more,” he mutters against Loki’s skin, ‘cause he’s gotta lay his too heavy head somewhere.   
  
It’s not quite clear who kisses who, yet it can’t be denied that there’s a warm mouth on his, exploring lazily, or that he wants to keep kissing whether or not his head keeps spinning.   
  
The spinning gets all butthurt by his arrogance and he has to break away and open his eyes. They just don’t want to stay open. Loki keeps his eyes closed and soon falls to sleep.   
  
Finally Tony passes out comfortably enough. Maybe Loki has the required energy to reclaim his arm from underneath him at some point.   
  
***

[Darcy!Cam]  
  
“Remember when I said I was drunk in Norway?” Darcy’s voice whispers. The picture stays dark. “I take that back. These Finns are insane.”  
  
***  
  
[excerpt from an interview]  
  
 **What’s your favourite song from the Broken Rainbow?**

Steve: Personally I like _Broken Rainbow_ the most.

Bruce: My current favourite is _Red in the Ledger_.

Thor: I can’t decide between _Broken Rainbow_ and _There’s No Throne_ , and I also love _A Talented Liar_.

Loki: I have to say I like how _Slowly, Intimately_ turned out, as well as _A Talented Liar_.

Tony: I’m more than pleased with the way the sheer epic of _A Talented Liar_ finally fitted into one song. Also, _How Desperate Are You?_ is pure genius.    
  
***   
  
[excerpt from an interview]   
  
“We can send messages, and people are free to interpret them,” Darkholme says and shrugs. “Everyone I’ve asked thinks _Adult Content_ is about a sadomasochistic relationship. It’s cool, but Moira and I wrote it as an ode to Rocky Balboa.”


	5. Somewhere on the Road in the Baltic States

  
[Darcy!Cam]  
  
“This is most likely the sweetest thing I have ever seen,” Darcy’s voice whispers in awe and is followed by muffled laughs.   
There only are two bunk beds at the end of the bus (whoever claimed most of them can’t sleep while travelling or can sleep on their seats was clearly too hopeful) and all of them are occupied. Tony and Bruce share a bed and are fast asleep, spooning and holding hands. Tony drools on the pillow while Bruce snores gently into his ear.   
  
“Is this still a bromance or is this violating the bro code?” Angie’s voice wonders.   
“Are you going to shut the fuck up or do I have to smack a bitch?” Natasha’s uncharacteristically hoarse voice inquires from the lower bunk.   
“Natasha? Is it possible that you have a hangover?” Darcy asks, delighted, and a delicate hand flips the bird at their general direction from behind the privacy curtain.   
  
***  
  
“What the ever-loving fuck is going on here?” Pepper hisses when she and the other women join the scene.  
Bruce and Loki are standing by the bus on the parking lot of the small roadside hotel, shouting at each other at the top of their lungs.   
“They’ve pretty much established Bruce is a junkie and Loki’s a princess,” Tony, leaning to the wall next to the hotel’s main entrance, says and smiles somewhat ecstatically. “And that there’s _no respect_ in their relationship. Please tell me someone brought popcorn.”   
  
To Tony’s utter disappointment the female squad needs no further explanations to take action. The shouting gets louder for a moment, but before long Bruce is walked away by Darcy and Natasha - Tony strongly suspects the latter has her fingernails buried dangerously close to some major vein in Bruce’s arm - while Pepper and Angie keep Loki in place, obviously by the sheer power of staring him down.   
  
***  
  
“Do I really have to tell you that encouraging Banner’s more aggressive traits is a fucking stupid idea?” Natasha asks and shoves a drink into Tony’s hand before sitting on the opposite side of the small table in the lobby bar. Tony tries but cannot see to the door from their spot. It’s yet another spectacle of injustice: Bruce got Snarky Spice while he’s stuck with Scary.   
  
“Do I really have to tell you that encouraging my drinking is a fucking stupid idea?” he sneers and takes a sip of his gin and tonic. It’s actually cute how he’s believed to subdue to alcohol at any given time and place.   
“Just wait for the cyanide to kick in,” Natasha replies without missing a beat.   
“Well, this is how I’ve always wanted to go anyway. A drink in hand, accompanied by a beautiful woman. Although I always thought the woman would be wearing a little less than that, so if you don’t mind…”   
Natasha raises an eyebrow and he shuts up.   
  
“Why are you here, anyway?” Natasha asks a large gulp later when Tony’s hand is just about to dive under the table to reach for the phone in his pocket.   
Tony frowns. So much for calling for back-up. “I’m not quite sure what you mean by that, and since I’m still fairly sure you’re some undercover secret agent to begin with -“   
The red-haired woman smiles deceivingly sweetly: “Are you here because you want to work with Loki or because Loki wants to play with you?”   
“Come again?”  
  
“Oh, c’mon,” Natasha leans back in her chair and tilts her head. “I’ve toured with Loki. Clint and Coulson have toured with you, and neither of you is the easiest person to work with. I’m just curious if this is a short enough tour for both of you to boost your public images or if you’re actually going to be a band.”  
“Um, how are we not a band?”  
“You’re not a band, you’re a dream team made of nightmares and you’re ticking like a time bomb.”  
  
Tony takes a incredulous moment to consider her words: “Look, so you really think I’m desperate enough to jump into all this _as a publicity trick_?”   
“I’m not saying you are, but is Loki?”  
Tony has many possible replies on his tongue, even after dismissing the ones questioning the woman’s mental health, but they become scared right before rolling out and he’s left gaping for an embarrassing amount of time before he abandons that route altogether: “Why do you care?”   
“I’m just reasonably worried for my job,” Natasha shrugs. “I like to work with the best.”  
  
***  
  
“Look, I don’t really need a babysitter, I’m not going to break into Loki’s room to strangle him in his sleep or anything. Too much trouble,” Bruce protests later when he’s escorted into his room by Darcy as Natasha has stayed behind to lecture Tony.   
“Shut up, I know kung-fu and other scary words,” Darcy warns him and pushes him in. “And I’m no mood for babysitting anyway.”   
  
Bruce frowns at her: “So why are you here? To get a better portrayal of my character?”  
“I was thinking we could take the required equipment with us and get somewhere, and since I so valiantly saved you from getting your eyes clawed out, I think you owe me a joint.”  
“You’re a sneaky woman,” Bruce says, somewhat admirably.   
“I know. So smoke me up, Mr. Banner.”   
  
***  
  
Angie lets herself in the room in Loki’s wake despite almost getting caught between the door and the frame. “What the hell’s with the PMS?” she asks so dryly it screeches in her teeth. “Boohoo, Banner’s a pothead. Big fucking revelation! The guy’s got anger management issues, is it so bad if there’s something that keeps him calm?”  
Loki practically snarls: “You know I hate it when people don’t live up to their standards!”   
“No. You hate it when people don’t reach their standards in a way you would like them to.”  
  
“Angie,” Loki hisses, and now that he’s not raising his voice anymore it feels like a temperature drop, “this is _my_ project.”  
“And we are here for you as long as you’re not trying to _fucking own us_.”  
Loki lets out a sharp laugh: “Believe me, when you find yourself surrounded by addicts, losers and idiots it’s starting to feel like the only option to get anything done!”  
“Which category do I fall into?”  
“Would you like to take an educated guess?”  
  
It turns into a staring contest Angie finally loses by blinking and sighing. She pinches the bridge of her nose and chooses her words very carefully. “Loki, do you remember why you need me?” she finally asks and no matter how tiresome it is, it’s familiar and safe.   
It takes a few deep breaths, but in the end Loki’s features soften: “Remind me.”  
Angie walks to him and cups his face between her hands: “ _You can’t lie to me._ ”  
  
***  
  
“Have you ever thought about how small is the difference between a reason and an excuse? I like myself more when I’m under an influence. Which one is it?”  
Darcy tries to form a witty answer but soon concludes it’s too much trouble with her lips being numb and the chocolate-coated candy in her mouth tasting heavenly delicious despite feeling like she’s chewing on some kind of powdered sand pressed into a ball. She _has to_ try a sandwich when they get back.   
  
And she’s already forgotten what she was supposed to say, so she lets out a muffled grunt to let Bruce know she’s listening.   
Bruce laughs: “It’s been ten minutes since we smoked,” Darcy would have guessed an hour, “you can talk when you come down.”  
  
Darcy gives him a thumbs-up and concentrates - tries to - on how her bones are the only thing keeping her body down on the bench they conquered from a group of pre-teens (a glorious battle; they should’ve been tacticians in their past lives; or maybe pirates; she could definitely pull off an eye-patch): the bones are heavy and warm, even if the rest of her is trying to turn into something only semi-solid and creep away.    
  
She only wishes she had something to pet.   
Preferably a kitten.   
Something soft.   
Even a mitten would do.   
Kitten in a mitten.   
  
“Can I stroke your hair?” Darcy finally forces out, forming the words slowly and carefully.  
It makes Bruce laugh again but he allows it, knowing all too well the act is an anchor pulling her back to their regular reality. 

“Would you mind stroking my hair?” she asks a minute later, and now that the words start flowing more and more freely it would be a shame to block them. “Y’know, like Tarzan? No, not Tarzan, like apes, the real apes, not the ones in loincloths. I mean, what’s the point of the loincloth when he lives in a jungle in the middle of friggin’ nowhere? Or are the other apes like, ‘Dude, look at the size of the balls of that one’ and force him to wear something? Sure it wouldn’t be too romantic if Tarzan was like ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane” and Jane would go ‘Ugh, yeah, I can see your dick’, but still. The cloth is suspicious.”

“You don’t think it’s the colonialists writing about the jungle which is suspicious?”   
“That too, but _especially_ loincloths.”   
  
***  
  
“So, who has…” Pepper, yelling from the front of the bus, picks up yet another piece of paper from the beanie she has stolen from Clint earlier, “escaped the police?”  
“BINGO!” both Tony and Natasha bellow from their seats while the others let out a collective groan.  
  
“Okay, let’s check. Tony, what do you got?”   
“Escaped the police, started a fire, vomited blood, had sex with a fan and gotten an STD from a fan,” Tony lists rather smugly and is applauded with mutters of “is this something we should be applauding?”   
“I’ve escaped the police, had sex with a fan, vomited blood, broken a bone and been in a fist-fight. The last three events are not related,” Natasha shrugs and folds her bingo card neatly in two. “Did you have more of these games?”  
  
***

THE HOLY BUS CODE    
  
#15 No porn in the bus.   
#16 …unless it’s made before 1980 and you let others watch too. 


	6. Warsaw

 

  
Loki sings the last chorus of _Slowly, Intimately_ and moves over to Tony’s end of the stage to bring the song to its finale, and there’s nothing quite like playing the guitar with one foot on an amplifier, looking at the mass of people with their hands in the air.   
  
When the song is over he retreats back to Tony about to suggest a slight change to _My Exile_ ’s bridge; he forgets about it when the grinning bassist grabs him by his waist and pulls him into a theatrical kiss. It tastes like liquor and adrenaline and something Loki finally identifies as questions.    
  
***  
  
“Does that ever bother you?” Thor wonders out loud when they’ve passed Loki and Tony in the hallway leading to the green rooms and stepped out to gloriously cool night air.   
It was practically nothing, but the kind of nothing that speaks volumes, the two of them standing just a little bit too close to each other, just a little bit too lost in each other’s words to mind the outside world.   
  
“You mean, do I believe in bisexuals?” Steve asks with a crooked smile. “Yes, I do, and no, it shouldn’t bother me, but yes, sometimes it irritates me to see situations like that and know that they’re allowed to become scared and escape back to heteronormativity if it gets too rough. Hello, I’m Steve Rogers and I’m a bitter gay man.”   
“Makes sense to me, though,” Thor says and shrugs.   
  
“The question is, does it bother _you_? I mean, you’ve been just fine with me and Bucky but does it change things when it’s someone from your own family?”   
Thor actually laughs at that: “I’m happy as long as I don’t have to walk in on Loki having sex with anyone ever again.”  
Steve lets out a sympathetic groan: “Do I want to hear this story?”  
“Let’s just say Loki and Angie clearly were not into heteronormativity at that time.”   
  
***  
  
“I have to say this is probably the sexiest thing I have ever seen,” Loki congratulates and leans against the doorframe. “What did I do to deserve this?”   
He doesn’t know (or care) where the other chair has come from but Angie (her hair gathered in a messy bun on top of her head and hands clad in blue nitrile gloves) and Raven (clad only in a balconette bra from her waist up) sit knee to knee, taking up most of the floor there is to spare from the furniture and his bags.   
  
The younger woman sticks out her tongue at him but the expression turns into a brief grimace when Angie presses the needle back on her skin. Loki still twitches minutely at hearing the sound of the tattoo machine but the way his ex-wife leans over to wipe the excessive ink from right above his current lover’s left breast is more than worth it.   
  
“You gave the other key card to Raven,” Angie says, not lifting her eyes from her work. “Her room was otherwise occupied. I’m just about done here.” A few brief buzzes later Angie puts away the machine and her eyeglasses, cleans up what there is to clean and applies a thin layer of salve on the skin. “There you go.”  
“Thank you.”  
  
Raven gets up and makes her way to Loki to show the small text, all neat but significantly hand-written caps on her chest: **HOW DESPERATE ARE YOU?**  
  
***  
  
[Darcy!Cam]  
  
Raven smiles: “As for Loki and Tony working together… Well, they’re both basically gods. I’d say Tony’s got the science it takes to put together excellent songs, and Loki’s got the magic to bring it all to life.”  
  
***  
  
Raven’s light enough for Loki to hold her up and take her against a wall; at this point they kiss with their eyes closed and know they’re both thinking of someone else.   
  
The next day Raven dyes her hair bright red and doesn’t come to him.  
  
***  
  
THE HOLY BUS CODE  
  
# 24 Everyone likes The Sisters of Mercy.   
  
***  
  
“Would it be weird if we played some Jotunheim songs at some point?” Tony asks out of the blue and immediately gets everyone’s attention.   
“Would it be weird if we played some Avengers songs?” Bruce mutters from his seat.   
“Would it be weird if we played Phil Collins?” Steve asks innocently.   
  
The conversation of Jotunheim’s and Avengers’ intellectual property doesn’t lead to any conclusion but they decide to rehearse _You’ll Be in My Heart_ for the Berlin gig.   
  
***  
  
To: Steve  
Gonna meet some doctors at the base tomorrow, said they wanted to try something with the arm. I love you. I just need some time. - Bucky


	7. Berlin

****  
They’ve already turned off the lights and gone to bed, too sober to pass out and too drunk to fall into sleep immediately, and Steve hates the twilight zone of his thoughts.  
  
He almost had an attack right after the gig; Thor walked him around the corner and stayed there until he could calm down.   
  
“Thor?”  
“Yes?”   
Steve doesn’t turn to look, it’s too dark in the room to see his expressions anyway: “You’re a good friend.”  
“Thank you,” Thor says, and there’s warmth in his chuckle. “So are you. Is there a ‘but’?”  
“I’m afraid there is,” Steve says and takes a deep breath. “I’m afraid I’m attracted to you. I know full well it’s most likely just because Bucky and I are going through a hard time right now… I mean, you obviously are a very attractive man, but… I don’t do random crushes, not that this is random at all, and I feel like shit. And I understand if you wanna do new arrangements…”  
  
“Steve.”  
“Yeah?”  
“Just cut it with the ‘new arrangements’, okay? You love Bucky, right?”  
“Right.”  
“And you’re not going to jump me against my consent?”  
“Of course not!”  
“I’m flattered, of course, and you are sweet with your truthfulness and conscience, and I don’t want to play down your feelings, but does this have to be a problem for us? For either of us? We will be just fine.”  
  
***  
  
“If you were superheroes what would your powers be?” Darcy asks when _The Incredibles_ , dubbed in German, is interrupted by a commercial break. She rolls to the edge of the huge double bed and reaches for a handful of cold popcorn. She guesses it’s a remarkable afternoon concerning life on tour: she woke up with two guys in her bed, a huge mysterious stash of snacks on the nightstand and a human-sized wet spot in the carpet and she didn’t even blink.  
  
“I’m not so sure I’d be a hero,” Bruce (who has a penis drawn on his forehead with a black permanent marker) says, adjusting his pillows so he’s propped up more comfortably, “but I would like to be able to create a bubble of zen around me, so wherever I’d go people would be a little happier.”   
“I’d be called the Amazing Alcohol Absorbing Man,” Tony (who’s wearing red skin-tight spandex pants he definitely did not leave his room in) mumbles from the other side of Bruce and digs deeper into the bed clothes.   
“How does it differ from your current powers?” Darcy asks innocently.   
  
Tony tells Bruce to hit her. Bruce doesn’t, but wraps his arm around her shoulders, and Darcy concludes there could be worse ways to spend a hangover. When the movie is back on, Tony starts snoring.   
  
***  
  
The story of Thor Odinson and Jane Foster starts with a minor head injury.   
  
It’s not clear to anyone, least of all the two people involved, how Jane manages to slam Thor’s head between a door and her guitar, but it happens, and she looks like a guilty puppy about to cry when she convinces Coulson to take her with him and the slightly dizzied Thor to the ER.   
  
She looks considerably happier when they come back and she’s chatting animatedly with Thor, who’s very much alive and not even concussed.   
  
***  
  
“What are you so afraid of?” Loki suddenly asks, rather poisonously. Now that Darcy has bluntly announced she’ll be sharing a room with Bruce tonight and from now on Loki has given up his solitude to accommodate Tony in the same room with him.   
They’ve spent the last forty minutes in silence interrupted only by Tony’s fingers tapping his laptop’s keyboard and Loki turning pages of the book he’s currently reading: he has no idea what the last twenty pages or so have been about.   
  
Tony lifts his gaze from the computer and doesn’t even bother to pretend he doesn’t understand the question: “I’m afraid I’m being screwed here. You have all the rights to our songs and it’s your name in the title. Is there going to be life after London?”  
Loki gives him a tight little smile: “You think you’re here only because you’re the more famous one? That I find new Lowkeys as soon as we’ve had a good start?”  
“Pretty much, yes. It’s not like it would hurt my name in any way, but I guess I’m jealous enough to be hurt personally.”   
“Tony, I have two things to tell you. One: congratulations, you have figured out my original plan. And two: you are a fucking idiot.”  
  
“Excuse me?” Tony grunts and puts the laptop away altogether. After a few seconds of consideration he gets up and walks over to Loki’s bed.   
“I was going to use your genius to boost my career and take over the world, yes,” Loki says, “but now that we’re here, do you really think I’d want to take over the world with anyone else than you?”   
“You’re not exactly the easiest person to figure out,” Tony mutters but has to admit it lifts a burden he didn’t know he was carrying.   
“You are,” Loki says and grins again. Then he puts his book on the nightstand and pats the empty space on the bed next to him. “So I’m not going to be subtler than this.”  
  
***  
  
To: Angie; Darcy; Raven; Tasha  
I’ve got the room next to theirs and I think Tony and Loki are fucking. - Pepper  
  
  
To: Darcy; Natasha; Pepper  
ABOUT FUCKING TIME! - Angie&Raven  
  
To: Angie; Natasha; Pepper; Raven  
…and they’re not the only ones ;) - Darcy  
  
***  
  
  
  
***

[Darcy!Cam]  
  
Darcy aims the camera determinately at Loki’s face: “Tell me: what is a Broken Rainbow?”   
  
Loki smiles, one of those smiles that never tell if they’re genuine or sarcastic or something else: “Rainbow is basically an easy path from one place to another. But a rainbow is quite hard to reach to begin with, and if you’re walking on a broken one, you may fall into the cracks and there’s no knowing where those falls will lead you.” 


End file.
